Chapter 525: The Withering Tree
— Nagato, how are you? Konan looked at Nagato with concern. His condition only worsened with each passing day.
— Fortunately, there is a new member. You and Yahiko will greet him. It will be useful for our future plans, but its origin remains questionable. We'll need to watch him for a while.
Nagato in front of Konan was actually a corpse that was controlled by Nagato's ability.
Nagato could control six corpses and grant them various abilities. These six corpses were collectively called "Pain" and were the result of the "Six Paths of Pain" technique».
Six Paths of Pain — the "Outer Path" technique, which allows the owner of the "rinnegan" to control up to six bodies, as if they are their own bodies. The first path is called the "Path of the Deva", the second is the "Path of the Asura", the third is the "Path of Man", the fourth is the "Path of the Beast" and the sixth is the " Path of Naraka».
The Yahiko in question was actually the corpse of the first path under Nagato's control.
— What village did this rebellious shinobi come from?
— He is not a rebel, but an assassin who killed the fourth Mizukage. Be careful when negotiating with him and don't get too close to him.
— Why?
— He rarely uses ninjutsu, but is a good swordsman. His skills are comparable to those of Baki, his name is Byakuya, and he may have some sort of relationship with Baki, so pay attention to that later.
Conan was startled and nodded. Of course, she had heard of Baki from Hidden Sand Village. He was a man who terrified many shinobi with his sword.
Konan left the room and went downstairs with Yahiko, who was standing outside the door.
— Shall we go?" Conan asked.
— I won't show up, you and Kisame will talk to him, " although his voice changed, Nagato said all this.
— Konan understood what Nagato meant. The fact that Nagato would be present during this conversation was actually a deterrent that would prevent Su Xiao from escaping if anything happened.
----
In an underground room.
— Do you always relax in such a place? Looking around the dank room, Su Xiao was startled. The Akatsuki members were treated so badly...
Kisame sat down on the bed as if he didn't care about the humid environment at all.
— I'm a traitor, so I can't go out in public. We spend most of our time outside the village. Akatsuki doesn't restrict our movements. We just have to complete tasks when we have them..
The door suddenly opened and a blue-haired beauty walked in. Although Su Xiao knew that it was Conan, he didn't show it.
Su Xiao wasn't that stupid and wasn't going to say something like that to Nagato, "I know what will happen in the future. A new generation of shinobi with a bright halo of the main character over his head will make you stupid and you will willingly die for him».
Su Xiao looked Conan up and down and had to admit that she was a beautiful girl with a good figure and a unique temperament.
— She is the leader of Akatsuki?
Conan said nothing in response to this obviously sarcastic statement. There was nothing surprising about Su Xiao saying this. After all, without having the guts, he wouldn't have dared to try to kill the fourth Mizukage.
— I'm not the leader, but I can introduce you to him, " Conan said as she sat down on a chair and looked at Su Xiao.
— Are you willing to join us?
— Su Xiao's quick and direct response surprised Conan. "If I'd said no, would I have been able to get out of here alive?"?
— No, " said Konan and Kisame, almost in unison.
— So, to save my life, I want to join you. I have certain requirements, and until they are met, don't even expect me to do my job wholeheartedly, " Su Xiao said. He was going to make it clear from the beginning that he was only joining Akatsuki for his own benefit.
— Of course, there are no problems with this. What do you want? Ninjutsu? Secret techniques? Money? Women? Everything can be provided, but before that you will have to prove your worth.
Su Xiao sat down on a chair. To obtain valuable items, he couldn't just rely on his mouth and past merits. He will have to prove his worth and gain the trust of Akatsuki, after which, finally, he will be able to take part in the capture of the tailed one..
— Prove the value... You mean I have to do something I'm very good at?
— Right.
— Hmm... Su Xiao thought for a moment. — I am good at killing behind enemy lines, good at blasting, tracking and collecting data, killing enemy leaders, creating bulky traps, disguising myself, raiding the front lines of the enemy army, killing enemies from ultra-long distances — the longest distance is 1.2-1.4 kilometers...
Conan's frown deepened as she heard all this.
— Are you even good with bombs? What do you pay attention to for creating the big bang?
Conan seemed to just want to have a conversation with Su Xiao, but that wasn't the case. In fact, she was collecting useful data for them.
— It's hard to tell, mainly by the terrain, density and shape of the target, as well as the environment, including... Su Xiao began to introduce Conan to the specific knowledge needed to create a good explosion. Conan could create explosive talismans, but she wasn't an expert in "explosive" matters. Her method of using explosive talismans was simple and crude.
Conan could understand what Su Xiao said at the beginning, but starting in the middle, she lost the thread of the story. As for the last part, in the form of placing bombs according to their chemical formulas, Conan just listened to him in a daze, putting on a mask of understanding on her face, but in her heart she did not understand anything.
— This is all a base, it's about a fifth of my knowledge, " Su Xiao said, clearing his throat and about to continue, but the corners of Kisame's eyes twitched.
He almost fell asleep listening to all this.
— Ahem~, let's talk about this later, let's talk about the conditions.
— I won't ask for much. I'm currently being hunted by An Anbu from Hidden Mist Village. Even though they can't do anything to me, they annoy me. As for the other conditions, I'll talk about them later. After all, I haven't done anything yet, " Su Xiao wasn't going to talk about all this right now. He didn't have much time left to complete the first mission, so he needed to join Akatsuki as soon as possible.
— We'll help you with the Anbu. If you want to, you can take revenge on them in the future, but on your own behalf.
— Su Xiao quickly replied, and after that reply, Yahiko, who had been standing outside the door until now, finally left.
— Welcome to Akatsuki, you won't regret your choice, " Konan said and held out her hand, and Su Xiao shook it.
— I hope so.
[Notification: The main mission, "Choice", has been completed.
Do you want to collect your reward right now?
yes/no.]
Su Xiao decided to immediately confirm the mission and received 3,000 Paradise Coins.
[Notification: Hunter joined Akatsuki, the difficulty of the world was significantly increased and reached level 34.
Hunter, please proceed with caution.]
[Due to the increasing danger level of the world, the difficulty of the next mission has been significantly increased.]
[Main Mission: Withering Tree.
Difficulty Level: Level 23.
Description: Help Nagato destroy Konoha.
Addition: This is the last mission in this quest chain.
Lead time: 60 days.
Completion Reward: 50,000 Paradise Coins, 10 Medium Soul Crystals, 12 Free Attribute Points.
Penalty for task failure: All attributes -8.]
After reading this assignment, Su Xiao's mood took a sharp turn for the worse. He finally understood why so few contractors were willing to join Akatsuki.
The reason was very simple — the difficulty of surviving in this world was increasing dramatically.
What was the concept of level 34 difficulty? It meant that Su Xiao might encounter enemies that he couldn't handle in any way.
This open world was already very dangerous, but just because of this one move, the already high difficulty increased by an order of magnitude.
Thirty-fourth level of difficulty... Now he will need to proceed very carefully.
Su Xiao heaved a sigh of relief.
Today, he became a member of Akatsuki. A man who wore a cool uniform and killed people.
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